Ceramic structures for enhanced shape memory and pseudoelastic effects

ABSTRACT

Shape memory and pseudoelastic martensitic behavior is enabled by a structure in which there is provided a crystalline ceramic material that is capable of undergoing a reversible martensitic transformation and forming martensitic domains, during such martensitic transformation, that have an elongated domain length. The ceramic material is configured as a ceramic material structure including a structural feature that is smaller than the elongated domain length of the ceramic material.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/666,995, filed Jul. 2, 2012, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates generally to shape memory materials, and more particularly relates to ceramic shape memory materials.

Shape memory materials are characterized as those materials that can undergo reversible transformation between two distinct morphological phases, namely, a martensitic phase and an austenitic phase. Such transformation can in general be induced by exposure to an external stimulus such as, e.g., a change in temperature or applied mechanical stress, or a change in applied magnetic or electrical field. In general, shape memory materials dissipate energy during transformation between martensitic and austenitic phases. This energy dissipation is due, in general, to the creation and motion of internal material interfaces during the phase transformations, and the amount of energy that is dissipated is directly related to the transformation stress and strain.

The most widely employed shape memory materials are metals, and in particular metal alloys. Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are well-known for their ability to transform between martensitic and austenitic phases. But conventional SMA structures are characterized by relatively low transformation stresses and correspondingly low energy dissipation capabilities. In contrast, some ceramic materials have been shown to be capable of exhibiting reversible martensitic transformation with high stresses, offering the prospect of improved energy dissipation over that of conventional SMAs and the ability to particularly address applications in, e.g., actuation, energy harvesting, and mechanical energy damping.

But it is found that in general, because the martensitic transformation and its associated shape change generally leads to substantial internal stresses, ceramics, which are in general brittle materials, have a tendency to crack during such transformation. As a result, ceramics can in general exhibit only very small shape memory strains and commensurately low energy dissipation levels, and tend to fracture or crack during such processes. Thus, although ceramic materials could in, principle exhibit shape memory and superelastic properties with useful transformation shape recovery, such is not achievable due to the inherent brittle nature of such ceramic materials.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Shape memory and pseudoelastic martensitic behavior is enabled by a structure in which there is provided a crystalline ceramic material that is capable of undergoing a reversible martensitic transformation and forming martensitic domains, during such martensitic transformation, that have an elongated domain length. The ceramic material is configured as a ceramic material structure including a structural feature that is smaller than the elongated domain length of the ceramic material.

With this configuration, the crystalline ceramic material structure can undergo martensitic transformation cycling without the limitations of cracking and fracture that are characteristic of brittle ceramic materials. A combination of high strength, light weight, rapid response characteristic, large recoverable strain, and large energy damping render the ceramic structures provided herein particularly well-suited for many challenging applications. In particular, the ceramic structures can be controlled with a wide range of stimuli, including, e.g., mechanical, thermal, electric field, magnetic field, and other stimuli, for undergoing martensitic transformation.

The ceramic structures are therefore well-suited as mechanical actuators, as mechanical couplings, as armor materials for dissipating energy when the material is impacted or loaded, in biomedical devices, and in particular in applications in which an electrically-controlled actuator is desired. Other features and advantages of the ceramic structures will be apparent from the following description and accompanying figures, and from the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-1D are schematic views of a cylindrical ceramic structure undergoing a martensitic transformation cycle exhibiting a shape memory effect;

FIGS. 2A-2C are schematic views of a cylindrical ceramic structure undergoing a martensitic transformation cycle exhibiting pseudoelasticity;

FIG. 3 is a general plot of ceramic material stress as a function of applied temperature, indicating various temperature regimes for the martensitic and austenitic phases of material;

FIGS. 4A-4H are schematic views of example ceramic material structures provided herein having a structural feature that can be controlled to be smaller than the elongated length of martensite domains that form in the structures during a martensitic transformation;

FIGS. 5A-5B are plots of the measured stress-strain relationship for a first experimental cylindrical ceramic pillar having a pillar diameter less than the elongated length of martensite domains forming in the pillar, cycled through five martensitic transformations; and

FIGS. 6A-6D are plots of the measured stress-strain relationship for a second experimental cylindrical ceramic pillar having a pillar diameter less than the elongated length of martensite domains forming in the pillar cycled through eleven martensitic transformations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The crystalline ceramic material structures provided herein exhibit the shape memory effect as well as pseudoelasticity without cracking or fracture, and with a high strain percentage. These characteristics enable the application of the ceramic material structures provided herein to a wide range of applications that cannot be addressed by conventional brittle ceramic material structures.

The crystalline ceramic material structures of the invention include at least one crystalline ceramic structural feature that is configured to undergo the shape memory effect or a pseudoelastic effect. Both of pseudoelasticity and the shape memory effect are due to martensitic transformations in the ceramic material structures. Martensitic transformations are diffusionless reversible transformations between two different crystal structures. During the transformations, the atoms of the ceramic material move small distances cooperatively, resulting in a different crystal structure, but the relative positions of the atoms with respect to each other do not change, i.e., the atoms do not change place with one another. The phase transformation is additionally associated with a volume or shape change. This shape change, specifically a shape change of the unit cell of the material morphology, is what leads to macroscopic shape changes of one or more ceramic structure features, as described in detail below.

In martensitic transformations of the crystalline ceramic structures provided herein, as with most phase transformations, such martensitic transformations are thermally induced. There are four distinct temperatures that define stages of the martensitic transformation; martensite start temperature, T_(Ms), martensite finish temperature, T_(Mf), austenite start temperature, T_(As), and austenite finish temperature, T_(Af). With an example transformation cycle initiated at a relatively high temperature, above the austenite finish temperature, T_(Af), at such a temperature the ceramic material is completely in the austenite phase. As the ceramic material is cooled from this start temperature, there is reached the martensite start temperature, T_(Ms), at which the austenite phase begins to transform to the martensite phase. If cooling is continued below the martensite finish temperature, T_(Mf), then all of the austenite is transformed to martensite, leaving a fully martensite material. This austenite-to-martensite transition is known as the forward transformation. Now if this fully-martensitic material is heated, austenite will begin to form upon reaching the austenite start temperature, T_(As), and as the temperature is further increased, above the austenite finish temperature, T_(Af), only an austenite phase will remain. This martensite-to-austenite transition is known as the reverse transformation. The hysteresis that is characteristic in the forward and reverse transformations is due to a balance between the chemical driving force that promotes the phase transformation and the elastic energy created by the shape change that hinders the transformation. In general, the austenite start temperature, T_(As), can be higher or lower than the martensite start temperature, T_(Ms); there is no universally-required temperature condition.

Considering the phenomena known as the shape memory effect (SME), the SME results from martensitic transformation and is an apparent plastic deformation that can be fully recovered upon heating. The mechanism for the shape memory effect can be described in terms of the crystal structures of the austenite and martensite phases. Referring to FIGS. 1A-1D, there is shown a schematic of a cylindrical ceramic structure undergoing such SME. In a first example step, as shown in FIG. 1A, a selected, so-called ‘memory shape’ of a ceramic material structure is set, under stress, in the austenitic state, at a temperature above the austenite finish temperature, T_(Af). Then, referring to FIG. 1B, upon cooling of the structure from the austenite phase, the ceramic material transforms into martensite but it does so in a self-accommodating way, so that the overall shape of the structure does not change. This involves many different so-called variants, which have the same martensitic crystal structure but with different alignments.

Then, as shown in FIG. 1C, if a stimulus, e.g., a mechanical stress, is applied to the structure so that the ceramic martensite is now deformed, some variants will become preferred, due to the applied stress, and those preferred variants will remain and dominate even upon removal of the stimulus. Then, as shown in FIG. 1D, when the ceramic structure is heated again to a temperature above the austenite finish temperature, T_(Af), the martensite transforms back to austenite and the structure recovers the original selected memory shape.

Now considering the phenomenon known as pseudoelasticity, such phenomenon can be induced in ceramics by the application of mechanical stress, rather than thermal stimulus. Referring to FIGS. 2A-2B, if a cylindrical ceramic material structure is mechanically stressed while in the austenitic state, at a temperature above the austenite start temperature, T_(As), then the austenite will be transformed into martensite. Once the mechanical stress load is removed, as shown in FIG. 2C, the ceramic material transforms back to the austenite phase, since that is preferred thermodynamically, and reverts back to the original shape existing in the austenitic state.

To obtain pseudoelastic behavior, the stress that is applied to induce this austenite-to-martensite transformation must be less than the critical stress that induces slip in the ceramic material. If slip in the material occurs before the phase transformation, then the deformation will not be recoverable upon mechanical unloading and will result in permanent deformation of the ceramic material. FIG. 3 is a typical stress-temperature diagram in which the lines of positive slope separate the plot into austenite (right) and martensite (left) regions. There are four lines for each of the important transformation temperatures. Starting in the plot at the point labeled point 1, at which the ceramic is in the fully austenitic state, and applying a stress to the material, then the material passes through the T_(Af), and T_(As) lines without phase change because the material remains austenite. Once there is reached the stress level that passes the line for martensite start temperature, T_(Ms), labeled point 2, then the stress-induced martensite transformation starts and completes after passing through the line for martensite finish temperature, T_(Mf), where the material will be completely martensite, labeled point 3. If the ceramic material structure is then mechanically unloaded, the structure transforms back to the austenite phase and the original shape of the structure. The line with negative slope indicates the critical stress required for slip, and is preferably greater than the stress required to induce the martensitic transformation, σ_(Ms); otherwise, pseudoelasticity will not be observed in the ceramic structure.

The ceramic material structures provided herein all are capable of exhibiting this pseudoelasticity phenomenon, as well as the shape memory effect phenomenon, because they all can undergo martensitic transformations between a martensitic phase and an austenitic phase, and can do so reversibly, over a sequence of transformation cycles.

Table I below lists examples of crystalline ceramic materials that can be employed in ceramic material structures provided herein.

TABLE I Shear Material Austenite Phase Martensite Phase Angle (°) ΔV/V ZnS Wurtzite (H) Sphalerite (3C) 19.5 0.001 Mg₂SiO₄ (a) Olivine Spinel, γ 19.9 −0.085 (Ringwoodite) (b) Spinel, γ β-phase 40.9 0.024 Mg₂GeO₄ Olivine Germanate Spinel, γ Germanate 19.5 −0.087 MgSiO₃ (a) Orthoenstatite Clinoenstatite 13.3 0.001 (b) Protoenstatite Clinoenstatite 13.3 0.001 Fe_(0.9)Mg_(0.1)SiO₃ Orthoferrosilite Clinoferrosilite 13.3 −0.003 CaSiO₃ (a) Parawollastonite Wollastonite 13.4 0.001 (b) Parawollastonite Bustamite 13.7 −0.060 Ca₂SiO₄ Ortholarnite, α′L Clinoarnite 4.5 −0.035 (Ca₂Al₃Si₃)₁₂(OH) Zoisite Clinozoisite 8.8 0.038 AlSiO₅ Sillimanite Kyanite 26.1 −0.110 Fe₂Al₄O₂[SiO₄]₂(OH)₄ Chloritoid Chloritoid triclinic 7.1 −0.021 monoclinic (Al,Mg)₈(Al,Si)₆O₂₀ Sapphirine Sapphirine triclinic 21.4 0.028 monoclinic TiO₂ (a) Anatase TiO2 II −0.048 (b) Rutile TiO2 II −0.019 CaCO₃ Calcite Aragonite 0.060 ZrO₂ Baddeleyite Baddeleyite 8.8 0.031 tetragonal monoclinic

Additional example crystalline ceramic systems that can be employed as materials in the ceramic structures provided herein are listed below in Table II.

TABLE II Phase Ceramic Phase Ceramic System Transformation System Transformation Mg-PSZ Tetragonal to Mg-PSZ Orthorhombic to Orthorhombic Monoclinic Dicalcium silicate Orthorhombic to Dicalcium Monoclinic to (Ca₂SiO₃) Monoclinic silicate Orthorhombic (Ca₂SiO₃) LaNbO₄ Tetragonal to YNbO₄ Tetragonal to Monoclinic Monoclinic Al₂O₉ Orthorhombic to Lanthanide Monoclinic to Monoclinic sesquioxide Cubic (Ln₂O₃) Enstatites Orthorhombic to Enstatites Orthorhombic to (MgSiO₃) Monoclinic (MgSiO₃) Monoclinic

In the materials described in Table I and Table II above, selected compositions can be produced and dopants can be added as-desired for a given application. For example, a ceramic material such as ZrO₂ can be doped with a selected dopant, such as cerium, yttrium, hafnium, calcium, ytterbium, europium, and magnesium, or other selected dopant.

In a crystalline ceramic structure formed of a ceramic material such as one of the example ceramic materials in Table I and Table II, there is provided one or more crystalline ceramic structural features which, when the structure is subjected to a suitable stimulus, such as a thermal, mechanical, or electromagnetic stimulus, will exhibit a reversible martensitic phase transformation, with shape recovery properties, without cracking or sustaining other debilitating mechanical damage. This suppression of cracking during transformation is achieved through the imposition of feature dimensions that correspond to the dimensions of martensitic transformation domains in the structure.

As a martensitic transformation cycle commences in a crystalline ceramic structure, the transformation proceeds in local material regions defined as domains, also known and lathes, plates, variants, and platelets. These ceramic domains form as the transformation is initiated and proceeds, with a characteristic size that depends directly on a range of factors, including the ceramic material composition and crystallographic orientation, the loading state of the ceramic structure, and the temperature of the structure during the transformation. In general, martensitic domains in a crystalline ceramic can extend from as small as about 0.01 microns to as large as 100s of microns. Because the domains represent material that has changed shape and/or volume compared with the surrounding untransformed matrix of ceramic material, domains cause significant internal material mismatch stresses. If these stresses become sufficiently high, such stresses can cause cracking of a brittle crystalline ceramic material during the transformation. Similarly, when two or more domains are present in a ceramic material, the domains can compete with one another, causing overlapping stress fields that can cause or exacerbate cracking in a ceramic material during the transformation. It is herein recognized that domain stress within a transforming crystalline ceramic material is that condition which causes the cracking of conventional ceramic shape memory material structures during martensitic transformation.

It is discovered herein that free surfaces of ceramic material can relieve the stresses associated with domains that form in a crystalline ceramic structure during a martensitic transformation. Therefore, if the domains that form during a martensitic transformation of a ceramic material are relatively near to, or in proximity to, or directly adjacent to, a free surface of the ceramic material, the domains in general produce less internal mismatch stress than if the domains are in the bulk of the material, away from free surfaces. With the internal mismatch stress sufficiently reduced by domain location near a free surface, the ceramic material can then proceed through the martensitic transformation cycle without cracking or fracture.

This condition of domain location near to or at a free surface is achieved in the crystalline ceramic structures provided herein by imposing on at least one feature of a ceramic structure a size constraint, wherein it is required that the feature be no larger, and preferably smaller, in extent than the elongated length of the domains that form in the structural feature during a martensitic transformation of the crystalline ceramic material of which the structural feature is composed. In general, domains form during a martensitic transformation as elongated plate-like structures, with a characteristic domain length, herein referring to the length that is associated with the elongated dimension of the domain structure. This domain length is characteristic of the material composition and transformation conditions, as explained above. As the plate-like domains grow during a martensitic transformation, the domains due so primarily by thickening; the elongated domain length does not substantially change during the transformation.

Therefore, to meet the condition that a ceramic structure feature be no larger in extent than the characteristic size of the domains that form in the structural feature, there can be imposed the condition that the ceramic structural feature be no larger than the average caliper length of the elongated dimension, or length, of martensite domains in a ceramic structure during martensitic transformation. For example, this average elongated domain length can be specified as that elongated domain length that is measured for a ceramic material that is transformed to a volume fraction of 50% martensite and 50% austenite. This quantitative measurement can be determined experimentally, e.g., by bright field transmission electron microscopy (TEM) conducted on a bulk sample of a ceramic material of interest, to directly image the martensitic domains. With this direct imaging, there can be determined the precise size of martensitic domains for a ceramic material of interest, and a ceramic structural feature size less than the martensitic domain size can be specified. For many crystalline materials of interest, the martensitic domain size can be determined from scientific literature. For example, it is generally known from scientific literature publications that the elongated length of martensitic domains in the crystalline ceramic ZrO₂ is about 5 microns.

By meeting the condition that the crystalline ceramic structure include a feature that is smaller than the elongated length of martensitic domains in the ceramic structure, the domains that form in the ceramic structure during a martensitic transformation of the ceramic material are near to a free surface, e.g., less than about one elongated domain length away from a surface, or are in contact with at least one free surface of the structural feature material. As a result, the domains do not in general result in cracking of the ceramic material during a martensitic transformation because the domains cannot produce a level of stress that is sufficiently high for such cracking. So long as the average elongated length of the martensitic transformation domains of the ceramic material structural feature are larger than the structural feature extent, cracking of the ceramic material during martensitic transformation of the feature is suppressed through a plurality of martensitic transformation cycles, e.g., at least two cycles, at least five cycles, or at least ten cycles.

For many applications, it can be preferred to provide the ceramic material structure as a single crystal ceramic material. It is discovered that during a martensitic transformation of a ceramic material in the shape memory effect phenomenon or in pseudoelastic loading, there can be produced internal stress concentration in a polycrystalline ceramic material that is related to polycrystalline grain morphology. Specifically, in a polycrystalline ceramic material, each grain can contain atoms that are in a different crystallographic orientation with respect to each other. Given that the grains are randomly oriented within the ceramic material, then during a martensitic transformation, neighboring grains can change shape in opposing directions, causing internal stress concentrations in the ceramic material. These stress concentrations can lead to intergranular fracture and cracking of the ceramic material.

It therefore can be preferred for many applications to employ a single crystal ceramic material in the ceramic structures provided herein. With a single crystal material, grain boundaries are removed and the physical constraints that are imposed by neighboring grains are removed. As a result, material phase transformation can occur without stress concentration, thereby eliminating intergranular fracture of the ceramic structure. In a ceramic material structure of single crystal ceramic and having a structural feature extent less than the extent of martensitic transformation domains, the ceramic structure can reliably and repeatedly exhibit martensitic transformation through the shape memory effect or pseudoelastic loading without cracking or other fracture failure.

For a selected crystallinity, ceramic structural features that can be controlled with a feature size that is less than the extent of a martensitic transformation domain can take any geometry suitable for a given application. No particular feature orientation or geometry is required, and no particular feature size is required. But at least one feature of the ceramic structure is preferably characterized by an extent that is less than the extent of a martensitic transformation domain that forms in the feature during a martensitic transformation of the ceramic material.

Referring to FIGS. 4A-4H, there are shown a range of examples of structures that can be employed as the ceramic structural features provided herein. As shown in FIG. 4A, the ceramic structure can be provided as a pillar 10 or other such structure that finds support at one end. The pillar is characterized by a first feature that is the pillar diameter, d_(p), and is characterized by a second feature that is the pillar height, h_(p). If either or both of these pillar features are smaller than the extent of martensitic domains forming in the pillar, then the pillar will not crack during martensitic transformation of the pillar.

The ceramic structure can further be provided as a narrow cylindrical structure, or wire-like structure 12, shown in FIG. 4B. Here the diameter of the wire, d_(w), is a structural feature that can be smaller than the extent of martensitic domains forming in the wire, whereby the wire does not crack during martensitic transformation of the wire. Cylindrical wire-like structures such as fibers can also be employed in this manner. Such fibers and wires or other cylindrical objects can be employed in a bundle, cable, braid, or woven sheet for enabling actuation of the group of wires, fibers, or other cylindrical objects.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4C, the ceramic structure can be provided as a thin film, plate, coating, or layer 14, having a film thickness, t_(f), that is a structural feature that can be smaller than the extent of martensitic domains forming in the film during martensitic transformation. As shown in FIGS. 4D and 4E, the ceramic structure can be provided as a cantilever beam 16 or doubly-supported beam 18, respectively. The thickness of the cantilever beam 16, t_(b), and the thickness of the double supported beam, t_(dsb), are structural features that can be smaller than the extent of martensitic domains forming in the cantilever beam and doubly-supported beam respectively, during martensitic transformation.

In FIG. 4F there is shown a side view of a free-standing membrane 20, having a membrane thickness, t_(m), that is a structural feature that can be smaller than the extent of martensitic domains forming in the membrane. This example can be extended to, e.g., tubular structures like that shown in FIG. 4G. Here is provided a tube 22 having a tube wall thickness, t_(w), that is a structural feature which can be smaller than the extent of martensitic domains forming in the tube during martensitic transformation. In FIG. 4H there is shown a foam structure 24, having openings in three dimensions that are supported by struts throughout the structure. The thickness of a strut, t_(s), is a structural feature that can be smaller than the extent of martensitic domains forming in the foam structure.

These example structures demonstrate that any in a range of structural features can be controlled to have a feature extent that is smaller than martensitic domains forming in the ceramic structure during a martensitic transformation of the structure. The extent of the feature can be, e.g., less than about 100 microns, 50 microns, or smaller, even as small as 1.0 microns, 0.5 microns, 0.1 microns, or smaller, to meet the requirement, and given the geometry and arrangement of the crystalline ceramic structure. With these feature sizes, superior martensitic transformation strain level, e.g., greater than at least about 1%, and for many applications, greater than at least about 2% is achieved, in dramatic contrast to the much lower strain values that are typically achieved with conventional macro-scale ceramic materials.

With these ceramic structure features, it is discovered that the ceramic structures provided herein can demonstrate superior damping capacity during pseudoelastic cycling. Each martensitic transformation in a pseudoelastic cycle dissipates energy in a ceramic material structure. The loss factor, η, that is associated with such energy dissipation, can be expressed as:

$\begin{matrix} {{\eta = \frac{\Delta\; W}{\pi\; W_{\max}}};} & (1) \end{matrix}$ where ΔW is the energy dissipated in the ceramic structure per unit volume during one pseudoelastic cycle, and W_(max) is the maximum stored energy per unit volume over the cycle. The energy dissipated during one pseudoelastic cycle, ΔW, is equal to the area within a plot of the pseudoelastic stress-strain curve for the cycle, and the maximum stored energy per unit volume over the cycle, W_(max), is the area under a plot of the pseudoelastic stress-strain curve for the cycle, up to the maximum strain. This energy dissipation loss factor, η, can be normalized to enable comparison between different materials with an expression for merit index for stiffness design, to account for the elastic modulus, or Young's modulus, E, of a material, as: Merit Index=E ^(1/2)η.  (2)

In crystalline ceramic structures provided herein, with a features extent smaller than a martensitic domain size that is characteristic of the ceramic, there can be achieved loss factor and merit index values that surpass those of conventional ceramic structures. For example, a loss factor of at least about −0.13 and a merit index of at least about 1.84 can be achieved for the crystalline ceramic structures, and for many structures, a loss factor of at least about −0.18 and a merit index of at least about 2.5 can be achieved.

Turning now to methods for producing the ceramic structures and feature dimensions described herein, no particular production method is required, and any suitable process can be employed, including, e.g., powder processing, sintering, solidification, sol-gel techniques, and other processes. Melt spinning, inviscid melting, Taylor drawing, and other suitable methods can be employed for wire and wire-like ceramic material structures. A ceramic structure geometry and feature or features of a selected size or extent can be formed in situ during the production process or can be produced from a bulk ceramic by a suitable technique, such as machining, micromachining, microfabrication processes, such as ion beam milling, or other technique.

In one example of such a machining process, first there can be employed a co-precipitation technique that enables control of the ceramic composition from which the ceramic structure is machined. In such a technique, e.g., metal salts of selected elements are mixed and co-precipitated, and then ball milled, dried, and calcined into a powder. The powder can then be pressed into a selected bulk, e.g., a disk, with uniaxial pressure, and then sintered, in the conventional manner. The sintering time is controlled to adjust the grain size of the bulk structure, with longer sintering duration producing grain growth.

After sintering of the bulk ceramic, a ceramic material structure can be formed from the bulk by, e.g., focused ion beam milling or other mechanical process. This enables the production of a ceramic material structure with high precision and controlled composition. With such ion beam milling, ceramic structural features can be produced from a selected individual ceramic material grain in the bulk structure, to form a single crystal ceramic feature and structure, if a single crystal structure is desired. For example, pillars, cantilever beams, bridges, and other micromechanical structures can be produced as single crystal ceramic structures by machining such structures from a bulk ceramic material grain.

Alternatively, methods can be employed for producing a single crystal ceramic bulk material from which a ceramic structure is formed. Any suitable single-crystal formation process can be employed, for example, skull melting, in which induction melting in a skull crucible is conducted with slow cooling to favor growth of large single-crystal regions of ceramic material. Laser floating zone processing of a polycrystalline ceramic material can also be employed to locally melt a bulk ceramic material and form single crystal regions of ceramic material. Any suitable process can be employed where it is desired for form a single crystal material from which a structure is to be produced.

In addition, there can be employed processes for forming ceramic structures as a layer or layers, including thin films, free-standing membranes, and other layered structures, and composite structures such as foams. In one example process, there can be employed pulsed-laser deposition conditions for vaporization of ceramic material from a target bulk and subsequent vapor deposition of the vapor species onto a selected substrate or other surface. The resulting vapor-deposited material layer can be polycrystalline or single-crystalline, depending on the vaporization and deposition parameters. Other deposition techniques can be employed, e.g., chemical vapor deposition, in which a ceramic material layer is formed on a substrate or other structure by reaction of gaseous precursor species for deposition. Whatever deposition process is employed, layers can be formed on any suitable structure, e.g., a foam structure such as that shown in FIG. 4H. Other than vapor-based processing, here there can further be employed coating techniques, such as with a slurry of selected ceramic material, followed by drying and sintering in the conventional manner. Such processes can be employed to form foam struts having a selected ceramic material composition, extent, and geometry.

With these ceramic structure fabrication processes, there can be formed a wide range of ceramic structures that meet the dimensional criteria described above for achieving superior shape memory and pseudoelastic cycling capabilities for actuation, sensing, energy harvesting and conversion, and mechanical damping applications. The unique combination of high strength, light weight, rapid response characteristic, large recoverable strain, and large energy damping render the ceramic structures provided herein particularly well-suited for many challenging applications. In particular, the ceramic structures can be controlled with a wide range of stimuli, including, e.g., mechanical, thermal, electric field, magnetic field, and other stimuli, for undergoing martensitic transformation. The ceramic structures can therefore be arranged to accept a selected input for martensitic transformation; for example, the structure can be arranged to accept mechanical input for inducing martensitic transformation.

In general, martensitic transformation cannot be induced in metals with electric or magnetic fields because metals are electrically conducting. But ceramics are in general electrically insulating, and therefore the crystalline ceramic structures herein can be controlled to undergo martensitic transformation in both the shape memory and pseudoelastic regime with electric and/or magnetic fields. By disposing the ceramic structure in proximity to an electromagnetic field source, martensitic transformation control can be locally implemented. Such electrical control enables increased cycling speed and more precise cycling control with the benefits of large mechanical strain in response to an electrical or magnetic signal.

Thus, with a wide range of suitable martensitic transformation control stimuli, the ceramic material structures can be employed for many applications, e.g., as mechanical actuators, as mechanical couplings, as armor materials for dissipating energy when the material is impacted or loaded, in biomedical devices, and in particular in applications in which an electrically-controlled actuator is desired.

Experimental Examples

A crystalline ceramic material was formed by dissolving zirconium salts with cerium salts in a range of salt ratios between 0% and 30% cerium. Each mixed solution of salts was co-precipitated to produce ceramic powders of various compositions. A powder composition of 16 mol % CeO₂ and 84 mol % ZrO₂ was selected for formation of a crystalline ceramic structure. The ceramic powder was pressed and sintered uni-axially to produce bulk polycrystalline ceramic material. The grain sizes of the bulk ceramic material ranged between about 0.5 microns to about 10 microns. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) data from various compositions of the bulk ceramic material determined the martensitic transformation temperature points for the material as the austenite start temperature, T_(As)=−1° C. and the austenite finish temperature, T_(Af)=18° C. The transition temperatures of the experimental bulk ceramic composition could not be directly measured using DSC because the heat of transformation is too small. Therefore to confirm that the ceramic bulk was indeed austenite, in-situ X-ray diffraction was carried out which confirmed the material as being austenite.

A focused ion beam was used to produce cylindrical pillars in the bulk ceramic material, employing a top-down annular milling technique. The diameter of the pillars was selected to be the structural feature that would be controlled to be smaller than the average elongated martensitic domain length of the material. The average elongated martensitic domain length was taken to be about 5 microns. The pillars were therefore milled to include a pillar diameter that was less than about 5 microns. It was determined that the pillars were single-crystalline. The milled pillars were subjected to martensitic transformation cycling by uni-axial compression with a nanoindenter equipped with a blunt, 20 μm conospherical tip. An optical microscope was used for course positioning while in-situ scanning probe microscopy was used for fine positioning of the tip on a selected pillar top face across the diameter of the pillar. Loading rates were varied between 1 μN/s and 500 μN/s, with the load applied in open-loop load control.

To calculate experimentally-measured stress in the pillars in a manner that accounted for tapering of a pillar, along the pillar height, an effective pillar diameter was determined. The effective pillar diameter, d_(eff), was set as: d _(eff)=√{square root over (⅓(d _(bottom) ² +d _(bottom) d _(top) +d _(top) ²))},  (3) where d_(bottom) is the measured pillar diameter at the bottom of the pillar and d_(top) is the measured diameter of the pillar at the top of the pillar.

A pillar having an effective diameter of 1.82 μm was repeatedly cycled through martensitic transformations with the nanoindenter. FIGS. 5A-5B are plots of pseudoelastic measured stress-strain curves for the pillar over the course of five martensitic transformation cycles. As shown in the plots, strains up to 7% and stresses up to 2600 MPa were achieved with full recovery over the five martensitic cycles. The pillar was not cracked after the five cycles. The loss factor and merit index for each cycle is given in Table III below.

TABLE III Cycle Loss Number Factor Merit Index 1 0.17 2.45 2 0.15 2.16 3 0.15 2.11 4 0.15 2.06 5 0.14 1.97

A pillar having an effective diameter of 1.73 μm was also repeatedly cycled through martensitic transformations with the nanoindenter. FIGS. 6A-6D are plots of pseudoelastic measured stress-strain curves for the pillar over the course of eleven martensitic transformation cycles. As shown in the plots, strains up to 3.5% and stresses up to 1500 MPa were achieved with full recovery over the eleven martensitic cycles. The pillar was not cracked after the eleven cycles. The loss factor and merit index for each cycle is given in Table IV below.

TABLE IV Cycle Loss Merit Number Factor Index 1 0.15 2.12 2 0.16 2.3 3 0.15 2.11 4 0.14 1.94 5 0.13 1.89 6 0.13 1.9 7 0.12 1.74 8 0.12 1.72 9 0.13 1.86 10 0.13 1.84 11 0.13 1.85

These examples demonstrate that the ceramic structures provided herein overcome the cracking and fracture limitations that are characteristic of conventional brittle ceramic materials. Any in a wide range of suitable martensitic transformation control stimuli, including electrical, magnetic, thermal, and mechanical, can be employed to control martensitic transformation of the ceramic structures; and thus the ceramic material structures can be employed for many applications, e.g., as mechanical actuators, as mechanical couplings, as armor materials for dissipating energy when the ceramic material is impacted or loaded, in biomedical devices, and in particular in applications in which an electrically-controlled actuator is desired.

It is recognized that those skilled in the art may make various modifications and additions to the embodiments described above without departing from the spirit and scope of the present contribution to the art. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the protection sought to be afforded hereby should be deemed to extend to the subject matter claims and all equivalents thereof fairly within the scope of the invention. 

We claim:
 1. A mechanical structure comprising: a crystalline ceramic material that transforms between an austenitic phase and a martensitic phase by an applied stimulus, the martensitic phase including martensitic domains, each martensitic domain having a domain length; and wherein the ceramic material is configured as a ceramic material structure having a ceramic material feature extent that is smaller than the martensitic domain length of the martensitic phase ceramic material.
 2. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein the ceramic material comprises an element selected from the group consisting of zirconium, magnesium, and oxygen.
 3. The mechanical structure of claim 2 wherein the ceramic material comprises ZrO₂.
 4. The mechanical structure of claim 3 wherein the ceramic material comprises ZrO₂ doped with a dopant selected from the group consisting of cerium, yttrium, hafnium, calcium, ytterbium, europium, and magnesium.
 5. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein the ceramic material structure has a ceramic material feature extent that is less than 100 microns.
 6. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein the ceramic material structure has a of ceramic material feature extent that is less than 10 microns.
 7. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein the ceramic material is transformed to the martensitic phase at a temperature that is greater than 20° C.
 8. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein a martensitic transformation strain level produced by the ceramic material martensitic phase is greater than 1%.
 9. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein a martensitic transformation strain level produced by the ceramic material martensitic phase is greater than 2%.
 10. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein the ceramic material structure dissipates energy during a martensitic transformation cycle, from the austenitic phase to the martensitic phase and back to the austenitic phase, with a merit index value, E^(1/2)(ΔW/πW_(max)), that is at least about 1.8, where E is Young's modulus for the ceramic material, ΔW is dissipated energy per unit volume of the ceramic material for one martensitic transformation cycle, and W_(max) is maximum stored mechanical energy per unit volume of the ceramic material for one martensitic transformation cycle.
 11. The mechanical structure of claim 10 wherein the ceramic material structure dissipates energy during a martensitic transformation with a merit index value that is at least about 2.5.
 12. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein the ceramic material structure comprises a cylindrical geometry selected from the group consisting of pillar, wire, fiber, and wire-like cylindrical object, with the cylindrical geometry having a diameter of ceramic material that is less than the martensitic domain length of the martensitic phase ceramic material.
 13. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein the ceramic material structure comprises a planar geometry selected from the group consisting of plate, layer, film, coating, and free-standing membrane, with the planar geometry having a thickness of ceramic material that is less than the martensitic domain length of the martensitic phase ceramic material.
 14. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein the ceramic material structure comprises a beam geometry selected from the group consisting of cantilever beam and doubly-supported beam, with the beam geometry having a beam thickness of ceramic material that is less than the martensitic domain length of the martensitic phase ceramic material.
 15. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein the ceramic material structure comprises an open cell foam geometry, with the open cell foam geometry having a thickness of an internal foam strut of ceramic material that is less than the martensitic domain length of the martensitic phase ceramic material.
 16. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein the ceramic material structure comprises a tube, with the tube having a thickness of a tube wall of ceramic material that is less than the martensitic domain length of the martensitic phase ceramic material.
 17. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein the ceramic material structure is disposed in proximity to an electromagnetic field source for controlling martensitic transformation of the ceramic material structure.
 18. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein the ceramic material structure is arranged for accepting mechanical input at an extent of the ceramic material structure that is smaller than the martensitic domain length of the martensitic phase ceramic material.
 19. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein the martensitic phase ceramic material structure is untracked after undergoing at least two martensitic transformation cycles between the austenitic phase and the martensitic phase.
 20. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein the ceramic material structure is a single crystal ceramic material.
 21. The mechanical structure of claim 1 wherein the ceramic material structure has a ceramic material feature extent that is less than 5 microns.
 22. A mechanical structure comprising: a crystalline ceramic material comprising ZrO₂ that transforms between an austenitic phase and a martensitic phase by an applied stimulus, the martensitic phase including martensitic domains, each martensitic domain having a domain length; and wherein the ceramic material is configured as a thin film having a film thickness that is smaller than the martensitic domain length of the martensitic phase ceramic material.
 23. A mechanical structure comprising: a crystalline ceramic material comprising ZrO₂ that transforms between an austenitic phase and a martensitic phase by an applied stimulus, the martensitic phase including martensitic domains, each martensitic domain having a domain length; and wherein the ceramic material is configured as a beam having a beam thickness that is smaller than the martensitic domain length of the martensitic phase ceramic material.
 24. A mechanical structure comprising: a crystalline ceramic material comprising ZrO₂ that transforms between an austenitic phase and a martensitic phase by an applied stimulus, the martensitic phase including martensitic domains, each martensitic domain having a domain length; and wherein the ceramic material is configured as a pillar having a pillar diameter that is smaller than the martensitic domain length of the martensitic phase ceramic material. 